


Walk With Me

by MistressSiM



Series: Carl [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: A bit AU after 5x12, Alexandria Safe Zone, Because I thought he was a bit of a brat for a long while, Carl POV, Carl and Judith feels for the win, Ensemble Cast, Gen, I really love Carl now, I'm Bad At Titles, Mention of Patrick, Mentions of Beth, Team Bonding, Team Family, This is Getting Out of Hand, poor Patrick, that's new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-16 13:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3490076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressSiM/pseuds/MistressSiM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It soon becomes a thing for someone from the group to join him on his walks, and now Carl knows Dad sent them, because only maybe two of them did it voluntarily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walk With Me

Judith babbles non-stop these days, ever curious about the world around her, big round eyes widening in wonder whenever he so much as opens his mouth. It's _funny_ , Carl thinks, so funny, to be watching this little person spring up before his eyes. It's oddly painful to be away from her for too long. There are moments when he hesitates to hand her over, even when he knows he needs the rest, because he just wants to hold her close and take in the sweet scent of her downy hair. He has Judith to himself most of the time, and Carl is grateful for it. In this world of rot and ruin, if feels good to have something—someone—that belongs to him.

*

The leader of this place—Deanna, he remembers—had smilingly gifted Carl with the stroller after their interview, something like condescension and pity in her eyes.  
"It must be hard, carrying her around all the time."  
Carl had given her a wan smile in return, picked it up one handed, and walked out. 

He uses it the first few days, and comes to quietly resent how the people of Alexandria have come to stare goggle-eyed at the sight of them, smiling big and speaking amongst themselves. Only the older ones are brazen enough to beckon him forward to coo over Judith, and sometimes him, too. Carl finds that he is less annoyed by them.  
After a while he forgoes it entirely, a little out of spite but mostly because he doesn't really need it. He bounds from the house with Judith tucked contentedly into his arms almost each day. He's so full of unspent energy he's frenetic with it. He bounces in place when he's seated, twists and turns at night (he is used to hard floors and ground crunchy with stiff blades of grass, not soft mattresses), and walks almost the full length of the zone by the time the week's almost out. Dad doesn't like it. He says as much, and he doesn't say anything else, and so Carl keeps walking. He always checks in before he goes, packs a bag full of supplies for Judith. Sometimes, Michonne will join him, and they chatter comfortably about any and everything, and sometimes he pretends he is still at the prison.

*

Sometimes, Sasha joins him on the days Michonne doesn't. Carl half suspects that Dad asked her to, but then he remembers that she is perhaps even more tightly coiled than he is, constantly cracking her neck and sterling her jaw. She doesn't speak, but her face softens when they lock gazes. Not too much, though. Once, Carl absently thinks that she is far too pretty to look so unendingly angry, too small to seem so puffed up with anger.

*

It soon becomes a thing for someone from the group to join him on his walks, and now Carl _knows_ Dad sent them, because only maybe two I'd them did it voluntarily. Dad makes it a point for their paths to cross, looking stiff and confused in his new uniform. He always gives Judith a kiss, chuffs him under the chin, and goes about his way.

*

Tara makes him howl with laughter with tales about her life Before. She talks about her family, about the girls she dated (and the one girl who' d kissed her first, smacked her across the face, and then never spoke to her again), about the places she's been and what little she learned at the Police Academy, before the world fell apart. She's the only one of them who's happy to speak about her past. She answers his questions with cheerful gusto, her voice charmingly wry and full of self-depreciating humor. She asks him about himself in turn, and always seems genuinely eager to hear the answers, silly as Carl thinks they are. It's odd, and he's never told anyone, but it feels like he wasn't a person Before. He was twelve and quite honestly sheltered besides, lacking any true friends aside from Mom (which is just fine, because Mom is still one of the best people he's known). There's really nothing interesting about him, he thinks, Before or now, and he realizes it's a sad thought but he's not as sad about it as he probably should be.

*

With Noah, he reminisces about video games and sometimes Beth. Noah didn't really know her long, but he's the only one who's willing to talk about her. Carl tells him everything—how she was the light of their group, always ready with a smile or a kind word, how she had the prettiest singing voice he'd ever heard,. He tells Noah about the farm, about Beth's mom and how she was afterwards. He tells him how close she was with Herschel. His chest aches sweetly when he remembers just how much she loved her dad, and he wonders why he never noticed how close they were.  
"I wish I'd known her longer," Noah says, one day.  
"Me, too." Carl admits, and it's the first time it really occurs to him. He squeezes Judith tighter for just a moment, and she gives him a gap-toothed smile, like she understands.

*

Rosita has always been quiet. She listens and watches more than she speaks, but when she does, it's always worth it to listen.  
"You do such a good job with her, Carl," She tells him, and there's a thickness in her voice that gives him pause. She collects herself just a quickly as she lost herself, and laughs humorlessly.  
"Sorry. She just—reminds me of my nephew when he was that small."  
Carl wants to ask what happened to him, but he thinks of Michonne's little hoy, and figures that it was probably the same thing that happens to most everyone else.

*

He doesn't have to say anything much with Eugene. He can carry a conversation on bis own much like Patrick did, and his chest aches because Eugene is like a big kid and Patrick would have loved him. Carl likes the way he talks, low, accent a strange mix of drawl and clipped vowel sounds. He always, always, _always_ has somethin interesting to share about one thing or another. From Eugene, he learns that babies practice smiling in the womb, that there are forests filled with trees that grow from bodies underground, that scientists had been to the moon more times than the deepest place on Earth, and that there's a version of the Mona Lisa where the coyly smiling woman has _eyebrows_ and isn't that something. The research he did for that one history project didn't tell him that there was more than one version, and he didn't even know that the original didn't have eyebrows in the first place. Eugene teaches him a new word each walk, has him repeat the pronunciation and recite the meaning until it's just right. Carl thinks that he's learning more from Eugene than he ever did in school, or pouring over the textbooks Mom salvaged. He makes a mental note to tell Dad that he won't be attending Alexandria's school no matter what Deanna days, but he should suggest that Eugene become one of their teachers.

*

Abraham, shockingly enough, offers advice on how to better care for Judith. Carl's suspicion that he was once a father is confirmed when he asks to hold her once. He holds her the same way dad does, relaxed and confident, only one muscled arm required to keep her tucked onto his hip. Judith stares up at him like she's never seen him before, confused and open, and there's something Si adorably funny about that that he chuckles when he hands her over. Carl finds that with his hands free, they're all over the place. He wrongs his fingers around each other. Abraham takes to calling him Deputy Fidget, but only in their walks.

*

Carol looks out-of-this-world silly in her prim new clothes, for all that they suit her in a strange way. Much like with Michonne, he can talk with her about anything. He's surprised that she's not cold to him, because it really is his fault that Dad made her leave the prison. He tells her as such, and she dismissively waves her hand before Carl can voice the apology that's burning on his tongue.  
"If you didn't, we'd all be dead."  
Carl gets what she means by the group, but he wonders what could ever kill Carol, quietly strong and clever Carol. He doesn't ask for fear of the answer.

If he's not skulking about on the porch of their new house, wherever Carol goes, Daryl usually follows nowadays. He's a silent but comforting presence. Daryl is the quietest out of all of them, and even more so after Beth, but Carl knows that his constant place at Carol's side speaks volumes. The most he says is a greeting, and then he just hangs back, his gait a slow stalk, like he's on the hunt.

*

Though she's still mourning Beth, Maggie and Glenn are a unit once more. Most of the time, they trail behind, talking with their heads bowed. Judith reaches for Glenn if they get close, eager to see him cross his eyes for her amusement (he's the only one who knows how to do it). Maggie doesn't smile much anymore, but whenever they lock gazes, she forces one just for him. It smoothens into something more genuine when he smiles back.

*

Carl could get used to this.  
It hits him dead on one morning, when he awakens to change a fussing Judith's diaper. Safety. The tentative guarantee of tomorrow, Judith in his arms, his family at his side, a roof over their heads. It's actually a scary thought—the last thing he wants is to become docile or weak. 

Judith burbles a laugh at him, and he reconsiders.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to write Carl centered oneshots for a bit, now. This is the first of many. I posted this from my phone, so please excuse any glaring mistakes. Comments very much appreciated!


End file.
